Conveyor system for production of corrugated sheets from fibrocement, particularly, asbestoscement

ABSTRACT

In the production of asbestoscement sheets, the sheets are stacked and transferred one by one to a conveyor by means of a transfer system including a suction head hingedly suspended from a pivotal lever assembly. The suction head is moved by the lever assembly from a position overlying the stack of sheets at which the front end of the topmost sheet is lifted above the stack while the rear end slides therealong as the front end is brought to a position above a roller and is deposited thereon. The roller then conveys the sheet to the subsequent conveyor.

United States Patent Inventors Appl. No. Filed Patented Priority CONVEYOR SYSTEM FOR PRODUCTION OF CORRUGATED SHEETS FROM FXBROCEMENT, PARTICULARLY, ASBESTOSCEMENT 2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

U.S.Cl 271/12, 271/26 Int. Cl B65h 3/08 Field of Search 18/9, 10,

Primary E.raminer.loseph Wegbreit Auorney-Waters, Roditi, Schwartz & Nissen ABSTRACT: In the production of asbestoscement sheets, the sheets are stacked and transferred one by one to a conveyor by means of a transfer system including a suction head hingedly suspended from a pivotal lever assembly. The suction head is moved by the lever assembly from a position overlying the stack of sheets at which the front end of the topmost sheet is lifted above the stack while the rear end slides therealong as the front end is brought to a position above a roller and is deposited thereon. The roller then conveys the sheet to the subsequent conveyor.

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CONVEYOR SYSTEM FOR PRODUCTION OF CORRUGATED SHEETS FROM FIBROCEMENT, PARTICULARLY, ASBESTOSCEMENT The present invention relates to apparatus for the production of building materials, and more particularly to conveyor systems for the production of corrugated sheets from fibrocement, particularly, asbestos-cement.

Broadly known are conveyor systems, comprising in succession an assembly for the production of rolled material from a moulding mixture, means for cutting the rolled material into sheet blanks, sheet corrugating conveyors for heat-humidity treatment, these devices being interconnected by transfer means.

In the known plants, packs of sheets after leaving the heathumidity treatment conveyor are transferred by a crane to locations, where each sheet is taken from the pack separately and a pile of a required size is formed by means of special means or manually.

It is only in this stage that the process of sheet production can be considered as finished, as the next, hardening operation is not connected directly to the system for the production of sheets.

Thus, the known systems for the production of fibrocement sheets do not ensure the completion of the production process, which adversely affects the productivity and does not allow full mechanization of the process.

An object of the invention is to eliminatethe disadvantages of the known systems for the production of fibrocement sheets.

The main object of the invention is to provide a system which will ensure transfer of the sheets one by one from water treatment conveyor and automatic accumulation of the sheets to form piles of a required size for their further delivery to a place for hardening in storage.

This object is achieved by providing conveyor system for the production of corrugated sheets from tibrocement, particularly, asbestos-cement, said system successively performing the processes of rolled material production from moulding mixture. its cutting into sheets and corrugation of said sheets, as well as heathumidity treatment. According to the invention, an assembly installed at the discharge end of the heat-humidity treatment conveyor, for transferring the sheets from the packs onto a horizontal conveyor, located after said assembly, and at the end of said conveyor a lift-drop mechanism is installed, which performs stepped downward movement at a pitch, equal to the sheet thickness, said lift-drop mechanism serving for accumulating a pile ofsheets.

As the sheets in the packs often stick to each other, the assembly for transferring sheets from the packs often grips two or more sheets at a time.

To avoid breakage or other damage of stuck sheets in the course of their separation during their transfer onto the horizontal conveyor, a vacuum-suction head is used as a working member in the transfer assembly said head being suspended on levers, which are turnable by a drive in such a way, that the head passes above a driven roller located under it, said roller being so located, that the sheet, moved by the vacuum-suction head, is placed with its front end onto said roller.

To ensure better separation of the sheets in the pack, as well as to improve the conditions of the sheet transportation and to eliminate any possibility of its breaking in the process of transfer, the vacuum-suction head is suspended on levers by means of hinges in such a way, that its end which is at the front during its movement together with the sheet, is located farther from the hinges, than its other end.

Given below is a detailed description of an embodiment of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a conveyor system for the production of corrugated sheets from fibrocement, made in accordance with the invention the conveyor system being broken in length at sections a and a'a';

FIG. 2 is an elevation view of a portion of the system, located after the discharge end of the heat-humidity conveyor; and

FIG. 3 is an elevation view of a mechanism for transferring the sheets from the pack after the heat-humidity treatment.

The system for the production of corrugated sheets from fibrocement, particularly asbestos-cement, comprises a mechanism 1 (FIG. 1) for the production of rolled material from moulding mixture, a mechanism 2 for cutting the rolled material into sheet blanks, a mechanism 3 for corrugating the sheets, a mechanism 4 for forming packs of corrugated sheets, which are to be sent to a system of heat-humidity treatment conveyors, comprising a conveyor 5 for steam-air treatment and a conveyor 6 for hot water treatment, a bridge-type mechanism 7 for placing the packs from the conveyor 5 onto the conveyor 6.

At the end of the conveyor 6 there is mounted a mechanism 8 (FIGS. 1 and 2) which transfers the sheets from the packs onto a horizontal conveyor 9 (FIG. 2). after which a lift-drop mechanism 10, is installed. The mechanism 10 perfonns a stepped downward movement at a pitch equal to the sheet thickness to accumulate a pile of sheets.

The mechanism 8 for transferring the sheets from the packs on the conveyor 6 onto the horizontal conveyor 9 comprises a base 11 (FIG. 3), on which a crosspiece 13 is articulated on levers 12, said crosspiece carrying a suction head 14. The head 14 is suspended from the crosspiece by means of hinges 15 in such a way, that its end, which is at the front during the movement of the head with the sheet, is farther from the hinges 15, than its other end.

Installed below the level of the suction head, is a roller 16, fixed on the frame of a horizontal conveyor 17 (FIGS. 2 and 3) and serving to transfer the sheets onto the horizontal conveyor 9.

In operation, the rolled material produced by the mechanism 1 from the asbestos-cement mixture, is cut into sheets by the mechanism 2, said sheets then being delivered to the mechanism 3 for corrugation. Afier leaving mechanism 3 the sheets are placed into packs, by lever-type mechanism 4 and the packs are in turn placed into trucks of the steam-air treatment conveyor 5, from where they are transferred onto the heat-water treatment conveyor 6 by means of the mechanism 7.

All the above operations, as well as the mechanism 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 mentioned hereinabove, are not described in detail, as they are well known and do not form the subject matter of our invention.

In accordance with the invention, from the conveyor 6 the sheets are taken one by one from the packs and placed onto the conveyor 9 by means of the mechanism 8.

The suction head, moving towards the conveyor 6 for gripping a sheet, is not loaded and is held in the horizontal position by a stop 19. The head grips the front end of a sheet from the pack. Due to the fact, that the front end of the head is located farther from the hinge 15, than the back end, the head is turned in such a way, that the sheet assumes an inclined position when its front end is separated from the pack. This eliminates any possibility of gripping two sheets at a time.

After the front end of the sheet is gripped by the suction head, a drive 20 (FIG. 3) turns the levers 12 towards the horizontal conveyor. At that time the back end of the sheet slides along the pack or along the belt of the conveyor 6 (FIG. 2).

The levers 12 (FIG. 3) are so turned, that the suction head 14 with a sheet passes over the roller 16 and places the front end of the sheet thereon. The roller 16 transfers the sheet onto the horizontal conveyor.

After the suction head becomes free from the sheet, it again occupies a horizontal position and during the reverse stroke of the levers returns to grip the next sheet.

From the horizontal conveyor 9, the sheets are delivered to the lift-drop mechanism 10 by means of a system of rollers 21, the mechanism 10 being at the level of the arriving sheets at the beginning of accumulation in order to form a pile of said sheets.

As the mechanism moves intermittently downwards, the sheets are accumulated in the pile. After a preset height of the pile is reached, the mechanism 10 is lowered to the level of a conveyor 22, which takes the pile and moves it to the unloading position. From the unloading position, the piles are delivered to the storage.

After the mechanism 10 has delivered the pile, it returns to the upper initial position and the operating cycle is repeated again.

What we claim is:

1. In a system for the production of fibrocement sheets wherein the sheets are stacked on one conveyor and are transported one by one to a second conveyor; the provision of means placed between the conveyors for successively removing the topmost sheet from the stack and transporting it to the second conveyor, said means comprising a suction head, a

pivotal lever assembly suspending said suction head, a rotatable drive roller positioned between the conveyors, and second means for driving the lever assembly to move the suction head between a first position where the suction head engages the topmost sheet in the stack at the forward end thereof and a second position above said roller where the suction head deposits the forward end of the sheet thereon after having lifted the forward end of the sheet above the stack and moved the sheet towards the roller while the rear end of the sheet slides along the stack, said drive roller then transporting said sheet to the second conveyor after release of the sheet by said suction head which then returns to said first position.

2. In a system as claimed in claim 1 comprising hinges connecting said suction head and said lever assembly, said suction head having front and rear edges, said hinges being closer to said rear edges. 

1. In a system for the production of fibrocement sheets wherein the sheets are stacked on one conveyor and are transported one by one to a second conveyor; the provision of means placed between the conveyors for successively removing the topmost sheet from the stack and transporting it to the second conveyor, said means comprising a suction head, a pivotal lever assembly suspending said suction head, a rotatable drive roller positioned between the conveyors, and second means for driving the lever assembly to move the suction head between a first position where the suction head engages the topmost sheet in the stack at the forward end thereof and a second position above said roller where the suction head deposits the forward end of the sheet thereon after having lifted the forward end of the sheet above the stack and moved the sheet towards the roller while the rear end of the sheet slides along the stack, said drive roller then transporting said sheet to the second conveyor after release of the sheet by said suction head which then returns to said first position.
 2. In a system as claimed in claim 1 comprising hinges connecting said suction head and said lever assembly, said suction head having front and rear edges, said hinges being closer to said rear edges. 